“No,” she said.  “For the sake of the woman who sent him here we must stop short of that.”

Then Maud Barrington looked at them both.  “There is one person you do not seem to consider at all, and that is the man who lies here in peril through Ferris’s fault,” she said.  “Is there nothing due to him?”

Dane noticed the sternness in her eyes, and glanced as if for support towards Miss Barrington.  “I fancy he would be the last to claim it if he knew what we do.  Still, in the meanwhile, I leave the affair to your aunt and you.  We would like to have your views before doing anything further.”

He rose as he spoke, and when he had gone out, Maud Barrington sat down at a writing-table.  “Aunt,” she said quietly, “I will ask Ferris to come here at once.”

It was next day when Ferris came, evidently ill at ease, though he greeted Miss Barrington with elaborate courtesy, and would have done the same with her niece, but the girl turned from him with visible disdain.

“Sit down,” she said coldly.  “Colonel Barrington is away, but his sister will take his place, and after him I have the largest stake in the welfare of Silverdale.  Now, a story has come to our ears which if it had not been substantiated would have appeared incredible.  Shall Miss Barrington tell it you?”

Ferris, who was a very young man, flushed, but the color faded and left his cheeks a trifle gray.  He was not a very prepossessing lad, for it requires a better physique than he was endowed with to bear the stamp of viciousness that is usually most noticeable on the feeble, but he was distinguished by a trace of arrogance that not infrequently served him as well as resolution.

“If it would not inconvenience Miss Barrington, it would help me to understand a good deal I can find no meaning for now,” he said.

The elder lady’s face grew sterner, and very quietly but remorselessly she set forth his offense, until no one who heard the tale could have doubted the origin of the fire.

“I should have been better pleased, had you, if only when you saw we knew everything, appeared willing to confess your fault and make amends,” she said.

Ferris laughed as ironically as he dared under the eyes which had lost their gentleness.  “You will pardon me for telling you that I have no intention of admitting it now.  That you should be so readily prejudiced against me is not gratifying, but, you see, nobody could take any steps without positive proof of the story, and my word is at least as credible as that of the interloper who told it you.”

Maud Barrington raised her head suddenly, and looked at him with a curious light in her eyes, but the elder lady made a little gesture of deprecation.

“Mr. Courthorne has told us nothing,” she said.  “Still, three gentlemen whose worth is known at Silverdale are willing to certify every point of it.  If we lay the affair before Colonel Barrington, you will have an opportunity of standing face to face with them.”